Adventures in genealogy

The Case of the Missing Grandmother

This week Randy’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asked us to do a scavenger hunt to find a family member in the census. All of my great-grandparents were immigrants, and I’ve found them on the census records long ago to initially start my research (so many years ago that, at the time, the last available census was the 1910). All eight were here for the 1910 and thereafter, and only one, Joseph Bergmeister, was in the US in time for the 1900 Census. Many of their census records were extremely hard to find because the surnames were misspelled or mis-indexed. But I eventually managed to find them as well as their siblings. Five of my great-grandparents had siblings immigrate as well – I’ve found all 15 siblings so far! But there is one strange census-related mystery that continues to bother me…my grandmother is simply not there!

Margaret Bergmeister was born in 1913, so she would be seven years old in 1920 and living with her three older brothers, older sister, and her widowed father – the mother died in 1919. Although the family name is misspelled as “Burgmaster”, the family is relatively easy to find since both names are in the same soundex code. The entire family is living at 1016 Orkney Street in Philadelphia – minus Margaret.1

There is no way to know for sure why she is missing, but my theory is that she was visiting her aunt and uncle on the day of the enumeration. Max and Hilarie Thumann are living at 6078 Kingsessing Street in Philadelphia (indexed on Ancestry as Mat and Halmie)2. With them are Hilarie’s half-brother Julius Goetz and his wife Anna. But no Margaret!

It is possible that Margaret was visiting her aunts and uncles on the day of the enumeration and her father did not tell the enumerator about her because she was literally not home on 07 January 1920. On 08 January, another enumerator arrived at the Thumann’s door, but it is possible they did not mention Margaret because she did not live there. Other possibilities such as adoption are out of the question since Margaret’s birth was verified – not to mention the fact that she looks just like her brothers and sister!

I figured Margaret would be much easier to find in 1930 as a 17-year-old. Wrong again. By 1930 her father is now also deceased. Margaret’s oldest brother, also named Joseph, is 27 years old and married with a son and daughter of his own. They are living at 311 Wildey Street in Philadelphia3 (and on this census page, the enumerator thoughtfully printed each surname in very neat block letters). Living with Joseph are his two single brothers, aged 22 and 21.

It was assumed that Margaret, still a minor, was living with her oldest sister, Marie. Marie was living in the rear apartment at 1302 Germantown Avenue4. She was unmarried with two young daughters, aged 9 and 5. But no sister Margaret to be found.

Was Margaret with her aunt in 1930? The Thumann’s, now 72 and 60 years old, were living at the same house5. Although they have a boarder living with them, their niece is not there. Nor is she listed with her Uncle Julius Goetz, who was living on 1112 Sauger Street.6

So where was my 17-year-old grandmother? It wasn’t imperative to find her in the census – I know her birth date and her parents’ names. But, where is she? It’s still a mystery! For all the genealogical help the census has given me, the simple question of where my grandmother was at ages 7 and 17 is still a mystery!